The invention relates to a work flow management system and to a method for developing such a system.
A good deal of work has been carried out in recent years in this field. In such systems, documents are typically captured as images and are stored using optical disk cartridge storage and retrieval mechanisms. The work flow processing is typically carried out by distributed hardware and software, which is often in a client/server configuration. The object is to provide xe2x80x9cpaperlessxe2x80x9d office work flow control in which users are assisted with the tasks they need to perform and allocation of tasks is controlled. The xe2x80x9cpaperlessxe2x80x9d aspect is achieved by image document management.
The work to date in this field has generally provided effective engines or modules for particular tasks for work flow processing. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,545 (Hewlett Packard) describes a system which is effective at compensating for failed process activities. U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,393 (NCR) describes a system in which a simulator is coupled to a rule editor for simulating execution of rules before live application. U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,297 (NCR) describes a system in which a rule evaluator evaluates current and subsequent clauses in rules. U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,322 (IBM) describes a method of assigning a unique identifier to incoming submissions. A repository has an attribute-based file system for WIP submission attributes and contents.
WO 9905632 (Filenet) describes an object-oriented approach for catering for widely distributed work flow control. Filenet Corp. also provides a work item queuing engine which is marketed under the name VISUAL WORKFLO(trademark). This mechanism is effective at providing queuing of work flow items according to business organization processes.
While these developments represent major strides in performance of work flow management tasks, there still remains considerable difficulty in linking the systems to business organizations. This task tends to be labour-intensive and error-prone, requiring a good deal of bespoke-type software development. This in turn leads to problems in maintenance of the work flow management system both to cater for organization process changes and also upgrades to the system as they are developed.
Thus, in summary, the existing systems provide:
a work flow processor comprising means for performing image document management and work item queuing, and
a controller comprising means for linking the work flow processor to the business organization and controlling it accordingly, in which the controller is difficult and time-consuming to develop and to maintain.
Thus, the present invention is directed towards providing a work flow management system is which the controller links the work flow processor to the business organisation in a more structured manner for simpler and more business-orientated development and on-going maintenance.
According to the invention, there is provided a controller for a work flow processor comprising means for performing image document management and work item queuing, the controller comprising means for linking the work flow processor with an organization and controlling it accordingly, characterised in that, the controller comprises:
a reference database,
a database set-up means comprising means for generating in the reference database an organization model and a process model under user instructions, and
a work flow processor interface comprising means for controlling the work flow processor according to the models of the reference database.
In one embodiment, the organization model relates accountability and member types to accountability and member instances.
Preferably, the process model relates process definitions to process steps.
In another embodiment, the organization and process models are linked by data records relating organization member data with process step data.
Preferably, the reference database links the organization model to the process model by relating members to trays, each of which is associated with a work item queue.
Preferably, work items are defined in the reference database by expressions defining phenomena for phenomenon types, said expressions relating queue to process step data.
In another embodiment, the database set-up means comprises set-up components controlled by an administration set-up user interface for generating the organization model, and an integration set-up user interface for generating the process model.
Preferably, the set-up components comprise means for allowing on-the-fly model modification under user instructions to cater in a simple manner for organization and process modification.
In a further embodiment, the transaction database comprises a structure for storing process status data related to processes and work items.
Preferably, the transaction database comprises a structure for storing audit history data and comment text.
In another embodiment, the work flow processor interface comprises components activated by a scanning/indexing user interface and a work flow processing user interface, the components comprising means for performing work flow control and browse/fetch operations with reference to the reference database to interrogate the work flow processor.
In a further embodiment, work flow processor interface components comprise means for automatically updating the transaction database in real time.
In another embodiment, work flow processor interface components comprise means for performing find/view operations requested by users with reference to the transaction database.
In a further embodiment, the work flow processor interface components are called by user interface views using polymorphic objects which facilitate re-use of code.
Preferably, each work item is represented by an object which is mapped to the reference database by association with a relational table row.
In another embodiment, the components are presented to the user interface and work flow processor environments by platform-dependent component wrappers.